As always Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
Chapter 17
Masquerade
The ballroom of the Lotus Resort was breathtaking: beautiful marble floors, balconies overlooking the dance floor, candle lit dining areas, large marble columns, and an intricate chandelier. The centerpiece of the room was the exquisite stained glass window taking up most of the far wall, placed just right to catch the light of the setting sun.
Lucy didn't pay much attention to the room though, she was more interested in the people who were in the room. There were people from all over Fiore in the room, wearing the most elaborate attire, from gowns made entirely of feathers, lights, even magic, to suits made to look like mythical creatures.
"How exactly are we going to find the thieves in this crowd?" Lucy asked, turning to Laxus.
"We're just going to have to wait for them to make their move. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves." He held his hand out to her. "Would you care to dance?"
"I would be glad to dance, anything to get away from those two creepers over there." Laxus looked to where she pointed and saw tow men dressed in identical red suits watching them. Their only difference was one was wearing a black mask while the other was wearing a white one.
"Well, there is bound to be some odd people at every party, but forget about them and let's dance." He took her hand and led her away.
After almost an hour of dancing nothing had happened, and they were going to get drinks when Laxus stopped and turned to Lucy. "None of your spirits are out are they?"
"No, why?"
"Because I can feel Celestial magic, but I can't tell from where."
Lucy concentrated and she quickly found the source. It was a young woman with long amber hair and amber eyes, wearing a dress made entirely of chains, and she could feel a sinister magic coming from her. That must be the spirit, but where is her owner?
"Laxus. Concentrate your senses on the woman over there in the chains, see if you can find who her owner is. Hurry I don't like the feel of her magic." Lucy spoke a bit too late, once she finished speaking chains came out from nowhere all over the ballroom, binding the hands and feet of everyone in the room, Lucy and Laxus falling to their knees like everyone else.
"Good job, Girl." A sneer came from behind them, and she heard the click of heels as the speaker walked towards them. "Sensing that she was a spirit, but you were too late." Lucy looked up to see a woman in a black and white feathered gown and mask in front of her, the two men in red from before on either side of her.
"Andromeda's trap magic is impossible to escape, though I'm wondering how you sensed her in the first place. Celestial magic is somewhat rare and hard to sense, so how did you sense her?" The woman knelt down in front of her and grabbed Lucy's chin, ignoring the growl from Laxus. "Come on, Girl. I do have other places to be."
She must not be able to sense my magic. Lucy quickly tried to think of some way to distract the woman so she could get to her keys. So she did the only thing she could think of, she spat into the woman's face, who reeled back in disgust.
"Why you little bitch! You!" She turned to her spirit. "I don't think there's enough chains on her!"
"Yes, Master Sofia." Chains started to wrap tighter around Lucy's legs, yet all Lucy did was start to laugh.
"You know what your weakness is, Sofia?" Lucy yelled at her turned back as her hands made their way to her silver keys. "You don't know how to sense another Celestial Spirit mage." The woman turned just as Lucy found the key she was looking for. "Open! Gate of the Fox, Vulpecula!" In a flash the little spirit stood before them.
"You called, Princess." Lucy smiled at Sofia's shocked and enraged expression.
"Yes. Please remove these damn chains."
"You can't! It's imposs..." She went silent as the chains on everyone vanished, and everyone rushed around, trying to find somewhere to hide or out of the ballroom. Lucy and Laxus stood and glared at the three people before them, rubbing their wrists.
"You okay, Blondie?"
"Yeah. The woman is mine. You can have the other two. Just don't break anything too expensive."
Laxus grinned and cracked his knuckles. "With pleasure." With his hands now covered in lightning he rushed at the two men, and Lucy turned her attention back to Sofia.
"Vulpecula here can use trap magic too. Your chains are useless now."
Lucy watched as the woman turned on Andromeda. "You're useless! Why do I even have you!?"
"Master, I'm sorr-"
"No excuses! I'll deal with you later, but for now you better work well with this one." Sofia pulled out another key. "Open! Gate of the Enthroned Woman, Cassiopeia!" There was a flash of light and a woman appeared, wearing a long elegant black gown, with long amber hair and black eyes.
"Master Sofia." She said with a bow, and she nodded at the other spirit. "Daughter."
"Enough of that! Destroy her!" Sofia roared and pointed at Lucy.
"So you want to use multi-summons. I can use them as well. Open! Gate of the Great Bear, Ursa Major!" In a flash he stood by her side, brushing his brown hair out of his face. "Are yo ready to fight?" She asked him, and his fist became covered in flames and lightning, and he nodded. "Okay, Ursa and Vulpecula, go!" Lucy grabbed her fleuve d'etoiles and watched as the spirits began to fight, and watched in shock as black spikes started to come out from the floor.
"Surprised?" Came a voice from beside her. "Cassiopeia uses shadow magic, she can turn the shadows in the room into anything I want." Lucy turned too late, and had just enough time to see shadows forming around her before she was sent flying across the room, crashing into several tables, her whip and keys flying out of her hands, though somehow her mask stayed in place.
"Oh, did the little bitch lose her only weapons? Poor baby." Sofia walked over to her and sneered down at her. "But don't worry, your silver keys won't be the only ones I add to my collection. Once the Organization takes care of that Fairy Tail bitch, I'll have my pick of her keys. She calls them her friends, but in reality they are nothing more than tools, let me show you."
Sofia reached down and grabbed a handful of Lucy's hair and forced her to watch the fighting spirits. Ursa Major was next to Andromeda, covered in her chains, and Vulpecula was just getting to his side to help him when Sofia nodded at Cassiopeia. Lucy watched in horror, unable to look away because of Sofia, as shadow spikes went through Andromeda's back, through Ursa Major, then through Vulpecula, and watched as they disappeared in golden dust. Lucy looked over at Cassiopeia, and saw tears fall from her cheek. I wonder how many times she has had to destroy her own daughter, knowing she might have to do it again and again.
"See. Nothing but mer tools." Sofia hissed in her ear and walked away.
Anger poured off of Lucy as she stood. "You... you heartless bitch! Can't you see that you're destroying your spirit's trust in you!"
"What does it matter? I can just summon her later, and she needed punishment for earlier. For now you should be more worried about yourself, I have more spirits and you have nothing to protect you now." Sofia smiled as she took out yet another key. "Open! Gate of the Crowned King, Cepheus!" Lucy watched as another spirit appeared, this time and older man with amber eyes and black hair and a black moustache that reminded Lucy of the Spirit King.
Lucy tried to back away but her feet wouldn't move. She looked down and saw that from her ankles down had sunk into the marble floor. Lucy made a pained face as the stone tightened around her feet.
"Good luck getting out of this one!" Sofia gave her a sadistic smile at the look of pain on her face. "Cepheus can control the very stone you stand on, or that you were standing on." Sofia let out a sadistic laugh as Lucy was launched backwards into the air. Somewhere nearby Lucy could hear Laxus roar.
Laxus had just taken out the two other mages when he felt something go wrong. He turned just in time to see Lucy go flying backwards through the air, right at the stained glass window.
"Nooooooooo!" He roared.
Well, I guess it's time for her to realize who it is she's dealing with. I guess I will have to teach her that spirits aren't tools.
"Libra! Gravity Change!" There was a flash and Lucy stopped just inches from the window.
"Y-you can't be her!" Sofia was backing away in terror at the sight of Libra, finally realizing who she was up against.
"You!" Lucy hissed as she landed on the floor as she closed Libra's gate, wincing as her bruised feet touched the floor, and ripped off her mask, revealing her face. "I will personally make sure you can never use spirits as tools again, Gemini!" The twin spirits appeared beside her. "Take care of her spirits." The twins rushed Sofia and in seconds there was a second Sofia standing there, and Cassiopeia and Cepheus disappeared. "Now it's time for you to learn your lesson, Cancer!" In a flash he appeared beside her.
"What is it that you need, ebi?"
"Sofia there needs to learn her lesson on not using spirits as tools."
"Of course, ebi." Lucy watched as Cancer rushed Sofia, who screamed and tried to run, and watched as all Sofia's hair fell to the floor as the woman sank to her knees. But that wasn't all that Cancer had done, he had cut the nerves in her hands, making them useless, no amount of healing would repair the nerves.
Lucy limped over to Sofia, who was on the floor looking at the now useless hands, and she picked up her whip and silver keys along the way. When she got closer she saw a small key ring on the floor with four jeweled silver keys on it and picked it up. Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Perseus, all four of the jeweled. Sofia probably didn't know what she had, and I'm sure they will be glad to have a caring owner. Lucy looked down at the woman. "Your keys are mine now, you never knew what you had anyways."
Sofia looked up at her and started to laugh as some Rune Knights started to stream into the room, and two knights came over and brought Sofia to her feet. "We will meet again, Girl. Once the Organization destroys Fairy Tail's light, all of you fairies will fall!" Sofia yelled as she was dragged away. Lucy groaned and fell to her knees, then flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Laxus looking down at her concerned.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Lucy moved her feet out from under her and winced at the sight of her feet, everything from her ankles down were covered in bruises.
"What the hell, Blondie! You didn't say you were injured!"
"Laxus, I'll be fine in a minute, but for now could you find me a chair. Mr. Penn is making his way over here and I don't want to be on the floor in front of him." Laxus nodded and in seconds he had a chair and he helped her sit on it just as Penn reached them.
"That was marvelous! I had no idea that you two were so strong, especially you, Miss Heartfilia. The way you handled your spirits was amazing."
"Well, we are S-Class of Fairy Tail." Laxus said while putting a protective arm around Lucy's shoulders. The guy was giving him the creeps, he was getting too close Lucy. "If you could give my partner some space, she is injured."
The man realized how close he was getting and took a step back. "Oh my! You are injured. Do you need someone to help you?"
Lucy shook her head. "I've got this. Open! Gate of the Hare, Lepus!" The girl appeared before them, once again tugging at one of her ears, and Penn just gaped at the spirit.
"H-hello Lucy. How can I help you?"
"I'm sorry to bother you, but could you heal my feet for me?" The girl nodded and knelt down, and Lucy could feel warm air start to swirl around her feet, and Penn chose then to speak.
"Well, you've caught the thieves, and didn't destroy much, so you will get most of your reward." Penn had a greedy glint in his eyes.
"Most?" Laxus growled.
"Well, I'm going to have to take off the free weekend to repair the floor. The marble used was transported all the way from Bosco to the east. I'm going to have to replace most of the floor."
Lucy looked over and saw where the marble looked as if it had frozen mid-explosion. There is no way in hell that greedy bastard is taking that free weekend, and I can make sure of that.
"I can easily fix that." She stated, earning a blank stare from both men.
"I know you Fairy Tail mages are powerful, but how can a little girl like you fix that!?" Penn exploded, losing his temper.
Faster than Laxus thought possible Lucy had summoned Aries. "Aries, please calm him down." In seconds Penn was wrapped up in pink wool.
"Blondie, why are you attacking the client?" Laxus asked, suppressing a laugh.
"I'm getting him to calm the hell down while I fix the floor." Lucy looked down at Lepus just as she finished healing her feet and smiled. "Thank you, Lepus. You can go now." Lepus gave a nervous wave and disappeared, and Lucy stood and walked over to the deformed stone.
"Okay, I'm not saying that you can't fix it, but how are you going to?" Laxus asked while following her.
"Just watch. Open! Gate of the Crowned King, Cepheus!" Within seconds Cepheus appeared before her with a bow.
"Greetings, Miss Lucy. How can I help you?"
"Hello Cepheus, I have a favor to ask of you, and tomorrow we will work out our contract."
"Of course. What can I do for you?"
"Could you fix the floor?" He nodded at her and the floor bubbled up then smoothed out, the floor as good as new. Lucy smiled and both Cepheus and Aries disappeared, the wool disappearing along with them. She marched back over to Penn, who had a dreamy look from the wool.
"The floor is fixed, so we get to keep our free weekend. We will see you tomorrow to collect our reward." As Lucy turned and walked out of the ballroom Laxus couldn't help but be turned on by how bad ass she was being, not to mention her fine ass as she walked away. He followed her and caught up to her in a few strides, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"So... what plans do you have for tonight?"
Lucy looked up and flashed him a grin. "Well I do want to take a relaxing bath, and after that... Well, we will just have to see how everything goes.
"Yes..." Laxus whispered in a husky voice in her ear. "We'll just have to see."
Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did please review. Off to type the next one! XD